9:00am

On a boat headed to the Outer Great Barrier Reef




I'm on a boat. I've been up for almost 5 hours. My stomach was fine until I drank water... now it is doing a ridiculous amount of sloshing. I'm laying in the sun being splashed with seawater, and you know.. it is really nice. I'm not relaxed, though. In fact, I'm nervous as hell. In less than one hour I will be suiting up to do my first open water (ocean) scuba dive. I'm excited! Really, I am! I'm just.... terribly apprehensive and nervous.



I haven't written in so long, though.. and I have so much to write about. But-- I have to pause. We have a debriefing before our dive. I'll be back to write about everything afterwards.





*Cut to:

4:45pm

@ Flynn's Reef


Alright.. back to things. I've already taken my first two dives. They were cool. I wasn't too happy during the first one- not only were my goggles foggy the entire time, but we had to do a bunch of tests that I had trouble with due to severe lack of sleep. However, things turned out just fine, and I ended up doing very well on my second dive. Now some people are snorkeling.. and mom is sleeping in the cabin (oh btw.. MOM'S IN AUSTRALIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).... but I decided to just relax- I need it... plus I am enjoying just feeling the sea breeze and being dry (which is a rare thing on this boat).

So.. I've figured out that I love the ocean. I might have gotten a tiny bit seasick before, but I'm fine now. I love it here. It is just so beautiful. The fish are wicked cool; the coral is SO so pretty.. I already saw a sting ray and a shark, and tomorrow we get to see (and pet) sea turtles!! I'm really excited for that!!



Okay, so getting to all the things that I missed.. To be discussed:

-Ekka

-Friends

-Music Stuff

-Serious Sicknesses

-Driving



>>Okay- so the Ekka was absolutely incredible!! It was so so fun. I got a pile of showbags, walked around and got tons of random samples of random stuff, rode some rides that I was positive would kill me, and tons more! At the end we watched ute races, monster truck jumps, motocross jumps, and a laser/firework combo show, which was really great. Hanging out with Kieran was awesome (not anymore.. more about that later). The next day some of Kieran's family came over (we had stayed at his grandmum's house), and his cousins (ages 7 and 12) kept us busy with chess and hide and seek (which I ROCK at.. so good at hiding. No joke.). It was really enjoyable. I'm glad we did the whole Ekka trip.



>>Anyway- speaking of Kieran- we aren't talking (my choice). Now, I had assumed Kieran had had a crush on me (most of my male seem to go through that at some stage or another.. and I will NOT be blamed!), but before we even became close friends, I made sure to lay out the "NOTHING will ever happen between us" thing.... needless to say, it obviously didn't go through his head. He started getting too flirty and clingy, and ended up acting like my boyfriend, which was much unappreciated. When he tried to kiss me, I was REALLY pissed, but I decided to just let him know and keep talking to him. However, he got pissed at me for "playing him" (whatever that means) and called me a slut... which is when I ended the friendship. I figure the last thing I need right now is to be fending off my best friend. Ugh. I figure I'll let things cool down, and maybe talk to him when I get back from the trip. Grrr.


Fortunately, at the same time that Kieran and I started to fall apart, I became really close friends with Gossy- a guy at college. He is really cool. As with the Kieran thing (well, because of..), I already laid out the "nothing will happen thing"... he's good with that, and I'm pretty sure it is going to stay platonic, which is awesome. Kieran got ridiculously jealous of my frienship with Gossy, which pissed me off all the more. I'm happy for the friendship with Gossy.. he's wicked cool and we make really good friends.


Along with him, I have recently made some other good friends with the "muso" (musician) girls- Brijette, Tegan, and Bec. They are some really great girls. At first I was a little iffy about them (they are VERY strange), but as I've gotten to know them I've figured out how cool they really are.



>>Speaking of music.. I've been very busy. As I said before- I'm doing so much music stuff. Along with what I mentioned, I'm also in (or.. was in, I guess) the Toowoomba Orchestra, and the pit for the King and I, which was presented by the Toowoomba Choral Society. At one point, I was busy like every night a week. It's been crazy! I'm so happy to be back in the music scene!



>>Okay, so along with the busy-ness, I've gotten wicked sick a few times since I"ve been here-- Tonsillitis twice, Bronchitis, and a few random fevers/flus/stomach viruses. All I need to say is NOT FUN. Because of this, I've been getting so behind on work. I have this mass amount of work that I still need to do that was due like last week. I've been disastrous. I think I might even drop history. It is actually really difficult for me because it is based on prior knowledge that I have NONE of.


...Sorry.. I'm flying through this stuff. I'll write a better entry soon.. but until then.. Two more things.



>>I ♥ Driving here. It is actually pretty exciting, and I have gotten quite used to it. Mum has also learned to drive on the left quite fine, too. She always hits the wipers on rather than the turn signal, but its okay, cause that lets me make fun of her more. Haha.




And last, but not least..



I miss David to the max.


I want him to visit so bad. Everything here makes me miss him. Uncool.







Anyway- I have to go.. An entry with my adventures soon!